In the 1940s, most shops in Ireland were small family run businesses, however, there was one large department store in Dublin called Clerys. Clerys was actually one of the world’s first department stores; it was founded on O’Connell Street in 1853. It was a popular store during the 1940s and is still open today.

From the 1940s onwards, some bigger shops began to open up in Ireland. The first Dunnes Stores shop was opened in Cork city in the 1940s. The first Dunnes Stores were all drapery shops, however in the 1960s Dunnes also opened up as a grocery store.

Up until the 1960s, shops had only been located in towns and cities in Ireland. However, in 1966, Dunnes opened the first out-of-town shopping centre in Ireland; it was in Cornelscourt in Dublin. People came from many parts of the country to visit the first out-of–town superstore.

Shopping Centre
Courtesy of South Dublin Libraries

From the 1960s, shops also began to get even larger. People no longer had to ask shop assistants for goods to be taken off the shelves from behind a counter. Instead, they could handle and look closer at the goods by themselves.

A Changing Libraries Initiative - This site and all content is made available under respective copyrights. See the copyright statement for details.
Supported by the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government.